An issue of the International Labour Review, guest-edited by UNRISD researchers Shahra Razavi and Silke Staab, December 2010.

Over the past decades, changes in economic, social and demographic structures have spurred the growth of employment in care-related occupations. As a result care workers comprise a large and growing segment of the labour force in both North and South. One impetus for much of the research and policy work in this area is a concern about the labour market disadvantages of particular segments of the care workforce (such as migrant domestic workers, elderly carers, and nursing aides). Although the issue of care work and its vulnerability is a global phenomenon, the present collection pays particular attention to developing country contexts where issues of worker insecurity and exploitation are most intransigent, and where research has been sparse and data challenges are often significant. The special issue raises questions about who the care workers are, whether they are recognized as workers, how their wages compare to those of other workers with similar levels of education and skill, the conditions under which they work, and how their interests could be better secured.